“The only way God can show us He's in control is to put us in situations we can't control.”
“Worry fades away when we know for sure our future is secure in God's hands.”
The heart of the King is in our Father's Hand. I'm so glad I'm not in charge!!! This Political mess seems impossible but to God it's a small thing. He's in perfect control! Opake Jesu!! Our lives are in the Father's hands as well. I've wondered if angels have been hovering over the compound. We have been hearing so much violence. Even at night above the noise of the fan we can hear shooting. Late one night it sounded like a drunk man was walking the street behind our house chanting, “NO ELECTION” over and over. It's so unnerving to hear all the shooting, screaming, and sirens. Oh God have mercy on the innocent ones who are suffering!! News reports tell us that yesterday 20 people had gunshot wounds here in Kisumu... some serious. I think at least 3 people died. Police were raiding homes, shooting and wounding even women and children. Such hopelessness and despair! And people are hungry. There is nothing like “business as usual” right now. If people can't find work they may have nothing to put on the table in the evening. It's such a helpless feeling to be stuck in the Compound, unable to help the suffering. We are so grateful though that our dear church families are mostly all in the interior, away from the city, and they are okay. The worst thing is finding work and having enough to eat. There was an Election yesterday but Kisumu and 3 other counties have refused to vote. In fact some of the polling stations were burned and anyone who would have attempted to go to the polls would possibly have been killed. Raila and his coalition are boycotting the Election... and Uhuru keeps pushing his way, not seeming to care whether things are done lawfully or not. Now they are saying that Kisumu and the other counties are to vote tomorrow. Hmmm.... I'm quite certain if it didn't work yesterday it will most certainly not happen tomorrow either. But God knows...GOD KNOWS!! What a comfort to know we can trust our lives into His capable hands! The Pastor's are having a meeting right now, discussing our plans for the weekend. It very likely will not be safe to go out to our Churches on Sunday so I believe they are planning a service for here in the Compound.
Last Tuesday the Wayne and Joseph went to Kericho for a Agape meeting. Thankfully
Demonstrations were called off that day. Joe and Glenda invited me to go with them to visit our dear friend Caroline again. She was suffering terribly with pain that day. I was shocked to see her in the condition she was!! She tried not to cry out with pain but couldn't keep from groaning. And I was absolutely horrified when I discovered that her legs had swollen up so badly from fluid that it ruptured! I noticed a hole in her leg with fluid running out. So pitiful! It was hard to keep our emotions under control... especially when it seemed that the family was doing nothing to help her with the pain! We felt we HAD to do something so we went to Ombeyi to a private clinic and were actually able to get a Dr. to sign a prescription for liquid morphine! Joe hurried to Russia Hospital yet that eve. to try and get the meds but no one was able to help him, so he went early the next morning and was able to get the precious meds! He was just in time because the Protesters were just setting up to block the roads and cause chaos out there! Later in the day Wayne and Joe were able to get the meds safely to Caroline and give her some blessed relief from her suffering!
On Thursday Wayne and Tobias visited Paul Juma again in the hospital. He is also suffering from cancer. But at least he is able to stay on top of the pain and has means of getting help.
On Friday eve. we enjoyed a Unit supper and prayer meeting at Josephs. Kore was with us as well. Everyone seemed to enjoy the evening. There was lots of laughter and wonderful grilled chicken, sweet potato fries, beans, potato salad, and jello. Then it was topped off with homemade ice cream and hot fudge cake!! So yummy! By the way... remember in the last blog I mentioned that for 3 Sunday's in a row a vehicle wouldn't start and Wayne needed to charge the battery. Well the truth came out that night.... some pranksters slyly turned the key in Joe's vehicle to drain the battery!! If you want more information talk to Stacy, Rhoda, and our unit leader!! :) Wayne says... “Be not deceived, chickens come home to roost!” :)
On Saturday Wayne and I and Clarissa stopped at Caroline's house on our way to a burial. This time Caroline was on her death bed and barely responding. She responded a bit with moans when we talked to her and opened her eyes a bit but they didn't focus. It was heart wrenching!! And we couldn't hold back our tears. We sang for her the best we could and then said our goodbyes. I knew it would be the last time I would see her. But I was longing for her to be free from the horrible pain. On Tuesday when I was with her I asked her if she thinks God is wanting to take her home with him. She said, yes! Then I asked her if she is ready to go, and she said YES! On Monday Joes visited her and she was more responsive than she was before but seemed to be in so much pain. Glenda gave her some more morphine. Later that evening we got word that she passed away. Thank you God for taking her away from her difficult life, hard living conditions, and awful pain! Imagine the awesomeness of Heaven for someone like her!! It gives me the chills to think of it!
Backing up a bit... On Sat. after leaving Caroline's we went to the Burial of Tobias' Elizabeth's aunt. But she seemed more like her mother because she raised Elizabeth. I've never been to such a huge funeral! There were hundreds of people there! Immediately on arrival we were escorted down the "aisle” between 2 large rows of tents FULL of people. We stood beside the casket and prayed and then were ushered to seats. I think some people gave up their seats for us. After a while we heard a commotion and then saw a group of Gor Mahia football fans come dancing down the “aisle” beating on drums and carrying on. They danced around the coffin a while and then went back the way they came, taking their noise with them. Later there was more commotion when some famous politicians arrived. You can almost always pick those guys out...they walk with a swagger! Babu Awino from Nairobi was even there!! He is one of the most famous “opposition” members of parliament right now. He was even in jail recently for speaking against the President. That caused quite some excitement in the crowd! I wasn't sure if a political setting like that was a safe place to be but we made out alright. :) Elizabeth personally made sure we were fed very well. She served us rice and I think it was sheep meat and broth. Earlier in the week Wayne transported some food for Tobias' to the burial site. The back of our Fortuner was loaded with flour, maize, oil and a LIVE ram!! :)
The next day we had our fourth Communion service at Ahero. Clarissa stayed home since she wasn't feeling well... she seems to have another bout of Amoeba. Shonda stayed with her and nursed a sore arm. She had an accident at school last week and fell hard on her arm\shoulder. So thankful it's not broken!! While we were eating lunch that day Stacy stopped by on her way home from church and told us that she's “sicker than a dog.” She had chills and fever, and very achy, etc. I was immediately concerned because I knew she had her wisdom teeth removed about a week and a half before and the one had become infected. The dentist had tried to help her by putting something on a swab and sticking it in the hole where the tooth was but I don't think it did much good. I had warned Stacy that we need to take care of her because I knew that oral infections can go straight to the blood stream. Later in the afternoon Rhoda took Stacy to a lab somewhere at Acacia where they checked for malaria and did a complete blood count. It showed that her white cell count was 94% higher than it should've been!! They gave her some meds and sent her home. While we were resting that afternoon Stacy's mom voxed me and was wondering if I would go check on Stacy. She wasn't able to talk to her because Stacy was too sick. I went to her house and found her all curled up under a blanket and hurting from head to toe. She seemed to be burning up with fever. I was in dialogue with her mom several times and I checked Stacy again later and she seemed worse than ever! I started feeling like she really needs more than the meds she was taking. Stacy told me she has all the symptoms of sepsis...she even had the fast heart rate and breathing. I knew that if she had sepsis it can work very fast!! We almost lost my Dad to sepsis! Stacy's mom, Sharon, also knew of very bad sepsis stories so we decided she needs to get to the hospital on IV meds. I helped her get a few things together and we were on the way to Aga Khan! I felt so bad for Stacy that they didn't give her a bed to lie on while we waited, and waited some more! Wayne took care of registering her and before too long they did some more blood work and gave her meds for the fever. The long wait was due to waiting on lab results. Stacy was able to lie down on some chairs in the waiting room but I'm sure it wasn't very comfortable! We were finally told that yes, she does have infection... although they didn't seem to know what kind or where it was. But they gave her IV meds that eve. and then she was able to go home. The next 2 days she needed to go back for more IV and now she is taking pills for a while. Please pray for her complete healing! She's doing better but still not back to normal. I have to tell you about the surprise we had when we were at the hospital! We had been keeping in touch with Stacy's mom and the next thing we knew she said she's coming to Kenya!! In fact she was ON THE WAY!! Amazing!!! We found out later that from the time she decided for sure that she was coming until she walked out the door was... 45 minutes!!!! I can't get over it! I think she must've broken a record! :) She says she had lots of help! The Byler family was together and got her all packed up, bought her tickets, and helped with all the details! They were able to get a very good priced ticket... $900 for a last minute ticket is great! They checked prices again a half hour later and discovered that prices had jumped 800.00! That felt like a confirmation from God that Sharon should come! As you can imagine, this was a HUGE blessing and wonderful help to Stacy!! And I'm SO very happy that Sharon is here to take care of her daughter! She can do a much better job than I could!
On Tuesday Wayne, Joe, and Joseph went to visit Noah and Evelyn Atito. They recently moved back to Oroba and wanted the pastors to come to help them work through some issues. Pray for them as they seek to follow God. They had been members at Oroba years ago and then transferred to Lela. Lela proved to be too far for them to attend regularly so they left for a year and attended another church. They are coming back to CBF now but it's not without it's struggles.
Thank you for your prayers!! We're depending on them! Clara for the Yoders
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| Lina and Mary visit at Caroline's |
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| Tobias and Paul Juma |
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| You're coming with us! |
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| Funeral food! |
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| It must be good!! |
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| Grillin in the rain! |
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| Brad and the neighbor boy |
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| Maurice and Caroline in 2015 |
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| Caroline's last days |
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| Politicians at the burial. Babu Owino waving at the crowd. |
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| Clara and Clarissa with Elizabeth Ajuma and her daughter Sara |
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| Noah and Evelyn Atito |
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| Evelyn and Isaac Joe |
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| Here comes Stacy's mom! |
